![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4yhxnzMRZxhehGT3KFW2bxWNtVHv6Ay3g4Ywxpz0r8Ny8FeGiZPop68qiMvEzq4d2jqn5kDjVVeE7QD-qS4Z8IjO82E7-9cDYwjCGbTvSr1BPGSudpth2F4DLmVGWmH8SMEzikN29FCI/s320/cb2.jpg)
There isn't much to say about its creator, except that she's still around and it's been, what? Sixty-something years since she first started selling cigarettes at Birdland?
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9BfYRCjpzBkNaIEHalPHkEPpBkh6434gQBi0BppOrxK75vzmvKxHGvxeSU0Ugdg0yKT2fCXXIbOG9rZyqeMZa6Z1LxJCORvoLEr8zxBvJ3VMLQ-Mm6AqnumIV5azp7cciJbHUCnPPaY/s0/cb3.jpg)
Fast forward to now, and by sheer prolific power, she might be the single greatest female composer in Jazz history.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnHKHeqJd_3e5a3qTCis-G6myKzrdTBGpMNwODn42UVdILctsEHtn4GYK41fU7qzTMsNwIadxz7G5_DaTGQEY6UkRHzG3ja7-I0yWbwZM6EP4sVUUcbkd7l-KhW_Xk8SEJqEjTlmrzh88/s320/cb5.jpg)
It doesn't matter; Carla Bley is a musician's musician and a composer's composer since before most of us were born.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhD_KVq7V2lOyCB883Qt6rT2x8NSbBNH1RvkNti78kIsvxgiAeFkJe8XnQXATol-hBAziSpjb7YBWoTfxEzRqGRZ5SWrFwWYkf3jcYewKlfzYnRRTRrGdUcnE62Rwn_lEUHzMMHsfeUlQ/s320/cb6.jpg)
These recordings date from a couple of Yuletide tours she did, the first in support of her CD of carols for piano, brass & the impeccably beautiful electric bass of Steve Swallow, her life partner.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdKmuuEwPi5xC-gyBjwlZUGbQOOUNxIj1_IK894bh2EwEjOsa6g9Qm6c33Eo3uFA4iVlpHV0KNnaoAwnJ0l3yOHYC0u9OtsMMjkoFhht-rJHCesgZiaGOp_1_Il-3O7ybw_I_ObwRPrdI/s0/cb7.jpg)
We have a full broadcast from 2013, augmented by three bonus tracks from a 2008 performance; both are sourced from digital broadcasts and should toast your Yule Logs and chestnuts to perfection.
"Carla's Christmas Carols"
György-Ligety-Saal
Graz, Austria
12.5.2013
01 O Tannenbaum
02 Fernab in Einer Krippe
03 Jingle Bells
04 Hell's Bells
05 Jesus Maria
06 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
07 The Christmas Song
08 O Holy Night/Joy to the World
09 Ring Christmas Bells
10 Silent Night and Day
11 God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
12 O Come to Bethlehem, All Ye Faithful
Total time: 1:14:38
Tracks 10-12 are bonus tracks from Passionskirche, Berlin DE 12.4.2008 FM
Tracks 01-09:
Carla Bley - piano
Steve Swallow - bass
Axel Schlosser - trumpet & flugelhorn
Bernhard Nolf - trumpet & flugelhorn
Adrian Mears - trombone
Ed Partyka - bass trombone & tuba
Linus Pernulli - French horn
Tracks 10-12:
Carla Bley - piano
Steve Swallow - bass
Tobias Weidinger - trumpet & glockenspiel
Axel Schlosser - trumpet
Christine Chapman - French horn
Adrian Mears - trombone
Ed Partyka - bass trombone & tuba
digital capture of a digital FM broadcast, with 3 bonus cuts from a 2008 performance in Berlin (also a digital capture of a digital FM broadcast)
converted to CD Audio 16/44 by EN, December 2020
267 MB FLAC/December 2020 archive link
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Don't be fooled by the pictures that suggest Carla Bley is the Diamanda Galas of keyboards; this is some of the most gorgeous and serene recasting of well-worn Xmas fare ever attempted, and entirely appropriate for your grandparents -- or your contrapuntally-inclined hipster grandkids -- unwrapping their gifts around the tree.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2nfx6syNHMex7Vpfb6RetzwSmiQkS_GUXkDvkRZw70D_YSqzw1hpDWgaCnysnu5BMz1Q_RVRi50LM0WBeOdrsMD0yacIyuQ2o-A-J_0Vkfg2hvSV6K2L_YQ3arNDGBcMo6D8PwnqWT1M/s320/cb15.jpg)
I'll be back Monday, health willing, with something that couldn't be more different than this if you dyed its hair blue.
Many thanks
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